Good. Customer shoots and kills robber

This is a discussion on Good. Customer shoots and kills robber within the In the News: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly forums, part of the The Back Porch category; Here in Central FL. No CCW, but appears to have been carrying legally in his car.
I'm not sure he's doing himself any favors by ...

OCOEE, Fla. -- An eyewitness saw a robber brutally beating a store clerk in Ocoee, so he pulled a gun out of his car at the Kangaroo gas station on Franklin Street (see map) and fatally shot the robber.

That witness talked to Eyewitness News about his decision to pull the trigger and said he'd shoot that robber again if he had to (watch full interview).

He's a regular at the store and said he was coming to buy some cigarettes when he heard the clerk screaming. He told Eyewitness News he not only grabbed his cell phone to call 911, but also pulled a loaded 40-caliber handgun out of his car.

"I opened up, popped that out," Chris told Eyewitness News on Tuesday, about 12 hours after the incident.

Eyewitness News agreed to only use his first name, because he's afraid of retaliation, but he showed exactly what he did when he heard the clerk at the Ocoee store being attacked Monday around 11:00pm.

"I pull up like this and said, 'Stop,' and, as he came up, I came straight up, fired, 'Pop, pop,' two shots," Chris said.

Those shots hit and killed 40-year-old Freddie Carson. Public records show he has a rap sheet going back to 1987, including charges like battery and burglary.

Police said they're still investigating whether Chris will face any charges by coming to the rescue with a gun. Eyewitness News learned he has been convicted of misdemeanor marijuana possession in 2005 and was re-arrested in 2007 for a probation violation.

This time, the 26-year-old says he was within his rights when he took his gun out of his car to stop a robbery in progress.

"I was not going to sit there and watch a friend get beat to death. Would I do it again? I'm upset, but, yes, I would do it again," he said.

The store clerk was transported to Health Central Hospital with head injuries, but details on her condition were not released.

Investigators are also looking into whether or not there may have been a second robbery suspect who fled the scene.

MAN WHO FIRED GUN PROTECTED BY FLORIDA LAWS

Chris did not have a concealed weapons permit, but he was protected by two other laws that allow drivers to carry guns in their cars and allow gun owners to start shooting if they witness a violent felony.

He doesn't think there's anything wrong with what the bystander did. Anderson runs Shoot Straight, a gun range in Apopka.

"He did what he had to do to stop somebody from getting killed," Anderson told Eyewitness News.

In Florida, it's perfectly legal to have a gun in your vehicle if it's secured in something like a holster or in your glove compartment. Eyewitness News checked and found out there's also another law on Christopher's side based on his version of what happened.

Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, enacted three years ago, states a person can "meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to him or herself of another person to prevent a forcible felony."

At least one customer shopping at the Kangaroo convenience store disagrees with the law and believes Christopher could've stopped the suspected robber without pulling the trigger.

"That's kind of scary that anybody can just walk up and blam, blam, and you're done," Jeff Harrison said.

Anderson believes an increase in similar crime scenes is possible as a result of people trying to protect themselves and others. He's seen a significant increase in the number of people practicing at the range and securing permits.

"You honestly can't feel safe unless you live in a cocoon," Anderson said.

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."